Folding chair



W. C. RASTETTER FOLJDING CHAIR 3 Shet-s-Sheet Filed June' 24, 1927 mamas:

@ MTQRNEY Nov, 2? 3 928. 1,693,349.

w. c. RASTETTER FOLvDING CHAIR Filed June 24, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 may; J: lNVENTOR' ATTQRNEY Patented Nov. 27, 1928.

WILLIAM C. RASTETTEB, FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

FOLDING CHAIR.

Application filed June 24, 1827. Serial No. 201,178.

This invention relates to improvements in folding chairs, and the objects thereof are: first, to provide a foldable chair that may be manipulated from its folded position to its extended position for use, and vice versa, with the use onl of a single hand; second, to afford a fol ing chair so constructed as to be free from obstructions at the sides of the back and seat that are common in folding chairs; and third, to provide a folding chair so constructed, that when folded, its height will be materially reduced and thereby facilitate its shipment and storage.

These objects are accomplished by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which ig. 1 is a central section of a chair in extended position for use, in which the invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the chair in extended position;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the chair in folded position; and Fig. 4 is a detail of the connectmg rod for the back frame, the link connections for the legs and the spacers for the links.

The characters appearing in the description refer to parts shown in the drawings and designated thereon by said characters.

The invention comprises a seat frame 1 which may be conveniently formed of a wood strip bent into the form of the letter U, upon which frame is secured a seat composed of a plate 2 covered with upholstering 3. The frame 1 has fixed therein a transverse rod 4 upon which are pivoted a pair of forelegs 5 and rear legs 6, within the sides 7 of the seat frame, the forelegs being positioned respectively between the corresponding rear legs and sides of the seat.

The forelegs 5 are held spaced apart by a cross brace 8, and the rear legs 6 are likewise held spaced apart by a similar cross-brace 9.

The rear end of the seat has fixed to each side 7 thereof upon its inner face, a bracket 10, to which bracket is pivoted the corresponding side 11 of a back-rest frame 12 by means of a screw The frame 12 of the back-rest has a crosspiece 13, and a panel 14 is positioned in connection with the top of the back-rest frame and the cross-piece for the support of the back of the occupant.

Arranged transversely in the lower ends of the sides 11 of'the back-rest frame is a connecting rod 15 having pivoted thereon a pair of links 16 that are also pivotally connected respectively with the corresponding rear legs 6, as indicated by the screw 17. Also, the rod 15 has pivoted thereon'a pair of links 18 that are also respectively connected with the corresponding forelegs 5, as indicated by the screw 19. The links 16 and 18 are held spaced apart on said rod 15 by means of a series of tubes 19 and 20 that are positioned respectively therebetween. By this construction the lower end of the back-rest frame has separate linked connections with the forelegs and rear legs, and the transverse member at the lower end of the back-rest, that is comprised of the rod 15 and said tubes, has bearing contact with the rear faces of the rear legs so that swinging movement of the back-rest frame upon its pivots 10' is limited thereby, and the forward spread of the forelegs is correspondingly limited by reason of their linked connections with said transverse member.

When the chair is being utilized, the weight of the occupant upon the seat causes the fore legs and rear legs to spread apart to the full extent which is limited by the links 18, and contact of the transverse member with the rear faces of the rear legs; and also the lower end of the back-rest frame is thereby held firmly positioned. The upper portion of the back rest frame is sustained through its pivotal connection with the seat frame by means of the brackets 10. The lower end of the back rest frame is also confined in its movement relative to that of the rear legs by the links 16, which links and those portions of the back rest frame below the pivots 10' constitute toggles forming the connection between the rear legs and the seat frame, A particular feature of the invention resides in this toggle connection, as when the chair is unfolded the transverse member crosses the plane that extends through the pivotal points 10' and 17 and is stopped by having contact with the rear legs, and the weight of the oocupant upon the seat and the pressure of the occupant against the back rest augments the force with which the transverse member is held against the rear legs. In this manner the rigidity of the chair is increased directly with the weight of the occupant, and the chair is thereby locked against folding.

To fold the chair, the back is moved forwardly so that the weight of the chair upon the floor rests upon the forelegs and the rear legs are elevated from the floor sufliciently to permit the toggle connections to reverse their positions, whereupon the back rest frame may e lowered and the seat folded to the position shown in Fig. 3, the forelegs and rear legs bein drawn into parallelism with the seat and ack frames by their link connections with the transverse member.

What I claim is 1. A folding chair including a back having depending side members, a seat member pivoted to said side members, fore and rear legs, means to pivotally connect said legs to the seat member, said side members of the back being disposed in planes exteriorly of the planes of the legs, a transverse member connecting the lower ends of the side members of the back and being engageable with the rear legs, means to pivotally connect said legs to the seat member, said side members of the back being dis osed in planes exteriorly of the planes of t e legs, a transverse member connecting the lower ends of the side members of the back and being engageable with.

the rear side edges of the rear legs to hold the back in operative position, links pivoted at one of their ends to said transverse member and at their opposite ends to the inner side faces of the rear legs, other links pivoted at one of their ends to said transverse member and at their opposite ends to the outer side faces of the fore legs, means on the transverse member engagmg the first named links to hold same against inward movement on the transverse member, and other means on the transverse member to hold said first named links against outward movement on the transverse member and to hold the second named links against inward movement on the transverse member.

3. A folding chair including a back having depending side members, a seat member ivoted to the side member, fore and rear egs disposed in planes within the planes of sald depending side members, means to pivotally connect said legs to the seat member, a transverse rod connected at its ends to the lower ends of the depending side members, links ivoted at one end to the outer faces of the ore legs and at their opposite ends to the rod at points adjacent the inner faces of the depending side members of the back, spacers on the rod engageable at one end with the said links, other links pivoted at one end to the inner faces of the rear le S and at their opposite ends to said rod and being engageable with the opposite ends of the spacers, and a third spacer on the rod engageable at its ends with t e inner faces of the respective other links, said first named spacers being engageable with the rear side edges of the rear legs to hold the back in operative position.

4. A folding chair including a back having depending side'members, a seat member pivoted to said side members, fore and rear legs, means to pivotally rel 'e-sa'id legs to the seat member, said side members of the back bein disposed in planes exteriorly of the planes 0 the legs, a transverse member connecting the lower ends of the side members of the back and being engageable with the rear side edges of the rear legs to hold the back in operative position, links pivoted at one of their ends to said transverse member and at their opposite ends to the rear legs, links pivoted at one end of their ends to said transverse member and at their opposite ends to said fore legs, and means to prevent relative spreading and relative approaching movement of the last named links.

In testimon whereof I afiix my signature.

.W ILLIAM C. RASTETTER. 

